“Training camp was very, very good,” Lauzon said. “This summer, I built a cage in my school (Lauzon MMA), and I’m happy with the way things went. I worked harder for this fight than any other. When I was training with BJ Penn in Hawaii, it was a little tougher to coordinate training partners whereas back home I had 6 to 8 guys jumping up to help every training session. It’s always easier to round up your own guys in your own gym. Training with BJ was great, but for this fight my entire gym was more focused on me in camp than ever before.”

Although relatively new to the UFC, the 26-year-old Bradley has been a professional MMA fighter for more than five years. “I’m ready for him,” Lauzon remarked. “I know he’s trained by Rich Clemente, of Louisiana, so I know he’s good in Jui-Jitsu and kickboxing. My boxing has improved a lot to the point I’m confident fighting on my feet. I’d still rather be on the ground but now I’m comfortable fighting all around.”

Lauzon is coming off a disappointing loss by second-round TKO to fellow Bay State fighter Kenny Florian last April 2 in the main event on UFC Fight Night 13 in Denver. “It’s all about maturity,” Joe concluded. “From that fight I learned that I need to pace myself better and not think that I have to go all out from bell to bell. Up until the last fight, I was continually progressing and moving up the ranks. The Florian loss set me back, but now I’m going to get momentum going my way again.”